Good afternoon,
This is Mayor Joseph Mengoni with an important community announcement for this weekend.
As some of you are aware, our Police Department has been tracking a social media trend calling for a large public gathering planned in our business district this Saturday, April 22nd during the late afternoon and evening hours. This social media post was similar to one that circulated before the Millennium Park incident in downtown Chicago last weekend that created public disturbances and random acts of violence.
Although the North Riverside post was removed by the account holder from social media earlier this week, our police department continues to actively monitor this situation and is ready to implement preventative measures should there be a need. We have been in contact with State, County and other local police departments to coordinate a unified response for this weekend and prevent any unruly behavior from taking place that will jeopardize the safety of our community.
I would like to assure residents that we will not tolerate any behavior like what we saw in the City this past weekend. The safety of our community is of the utmost importance.